Twist of Fate: Murphy's Law
by whoa nellie
Summary: AU version of the episode Critical Care.  Tom Paris got off easy in the TPTB's version, here he has to earn his ship's medic pay when Sassy goes into labor while the Doctor's program is AWOL.


Title: Twist of Fate: Murphy's Law

Author: Whoa Nellie

Series: Voyager

New

Rating: PG-13 (childbirth references)

Codes: C/f

Summary: AU version of the episode Critical Care. Tom Paris got off easy in the TPTB's version, here he has to earn his ship's medic pay when Sassy goes into labor while the Doctor's program is AWOL.

Author's Notes: Feel free to archive to any pertinent site. The teleplay for the episode Critical Care was written by James Kahn from a story by Kenneth Biller and Robert Doherty. The baby's name was discussed and chosen in the previous Twist of Fate story, Heritage.

Previous stories from the Twist of Fate storyline (in order): Blessings of the Sky Spirits, Wyrd, What Comes Naturally, Fresh Perspective, Culinary Delights, Chaos Theory, Unforeseen Circumstance, A Matter of Definition, Love and Copulation, Million Kilometer High Club, Comings and Goings, Bare Necessities, Vulnerability, When in Rome, Reporting for Duty, Rights and Wrongs, Proportional Response, A Force to be Reckoned With and Heritage.

Background: Ceshlyta is Chakotay's wife and soulmate. She is descended from the Inheritors through a different tribe and was joined with Chakotay in a wedding at the Temple of the Sky Spirits before they put her on Voyager. She was a Professor of Botany on Earth when the Sky Spirits joined their souls, intertwined their life paths and put her on Voyager. Her nickname, used by most of the other crew members, is Sassy.

Acknowledgements: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing with them.

Feedback is always appreciated, posted or e-mail.

This is an edited version. If you are 18 or older and would like to read the full version, it can be found on Whoa Nellie's Sci-Fi Romance Fan Fiction Website on the Twist of Fate Index page.

MURPHY'S LAW

"Doctor?" Sassy called out as she entered Sickbay. When she received no response, she tried a different approach. "Computer, activate EMH program."

"The Emergency Medical Hologram is not in Sickbay," the computer replied.

Sassy sighed, massaging the small of her back. "Computer, where is the Doctor?"

"The Emergency Medical Hologram is not currently onboard Voyager."

She was tempted to call the Bridge and ask Chakotay when the Doctor was due back, but there was no point in worrying him; surely they wouldn't have sent the Doctor on an extended away mission now. She took a deep breath as a strong cramp stabbed at her. It was probably Braxton Hicks anyway; at least she hoped it was but a nagging sense of alarm began to creep in. Sassy laid down on a biobed and calmed her breathing to try to meditate for a while.

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Tuvok turned away from the display screen, resuming his usual position. "The warp trail ends here. Gar should be directly ahead."

Janeway acknowledged him and nodded to Chakotay with an unspoken order. She issued the usual instructions to her crew even though she knew they were already preparing their stations. "All stop. Red alert. On screen."

An image appeared, but not the one they were expecting. "It's emitting a false warp signature," Tuvok informed her.

"Looks like we've underestimated Mr. Gar again," Janeway sighed.

Tom swiveled part-way around in his seat. "Now what?"

"There may be another way to find him," Tuvok suggested.

That got Chakotay's attention, every minute the Doctor was gone was one more minute closer to Sassy's due date. "What do you have in mind?"

Tuvok elaborated. "He traded us high-grade iridium, which has a very brief half-life. His ship is slow, logic suggests he acquired the substance within a radius of 3 light years."

"Cross-reference our sensor logs and long range scans," Janeway ordered, looking back over her shoulder at the Ops station.

Harry pulled up the files and began listing the information as he read it. "Two planets, no atmosphere or technology; T class nebula," he paused and zoomed in on a particular reading. "Here's something, an asteroid with approximately 200 humanoid life signs, subterranean structures."

"Sounds like a mining operation," Chakotay suggested.

Tuvok concurred. "If that's where Mr. Gar acquired the iridium, they may be able to help us find him."

That was the best option they had at this point, Janeway decided, the only real option at any rate. "Tom, how fast can you get us there?

Quickly checking the coordinates, he laid in a course. "Less than two hours."

"Sassy to Chakotay," the call interrupted Tom's reply.

Chakotay got a sick feeling, Sassy rarely called him on the Bridge unless there was a problem. "What is it?"

"I'm in Sickbay and the computer is saying that the Doctor isn't on the ship. I was just wondering when you're expecting him back," she said.

"Why?" he was half out of his chair, not waiting for her answer and not really wanting to hear the answer he almost knew was coming.

"First you tell me when he'll be back and then I'll tell you why," Sassy parried back.

Chakotay started for the turbolift with Tom right on his heels. "We don't know where he is; that trader Gar stole the Doctor's program and mobile emitter before he left. Is there something wrong with the baby?"

There was a long pause. "You lost the Doctor?"

"Ceshlyta," Chakotay snapped. His worst fear from the moment they discovered the Doctor missing was coming true.

"I'm fairly certain that I'm in labor," she said quietly. "Do you think you'll find him any time soon?"

"Sassy, it's Kathryn, Chakotay and Tom are on their way," Janeway said. "We'll track down the Doctor just as fast as we can."

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Tom wasted no time when he got to Sicbay, grabbing a medical tricorder and scanning Sassy who was leaning over a biobed. "How far apart are the contractions?"

It took a moment for her to answer as she breathed through a contraction. "About five minutes and getting stronger. I came to Sickbay earlier today because of the cramping and backache-- I suspected Xamenche' was getting ready to put in his appearance. When the computer told me the Doctor was gone I decided to wait until I was sure that it wasn't a false alarm before I called Chakotay."

"Well, it's not a false alarm," Tom confirmed with a sigh. "You're definitely in labor and officially have the worst timing in the history of childbirth."

Chakotay was rubbing the small of her back to try to help ease her back pain. "What are we going to do?"

Tom darted over to a computer station and pulled up some files. He scanned through them as quickly as he could. "Well, I don't want to do anything to stop your labor, the baby is full-term and I don't want to risk his health. I don't suppose you can do one of those joint vision quest things and talk to your son? Just explain that this is a really bad time and ask him to wait until we find the Doc?"

"Apparently not," Sassy said with a tone of disgust. "I already tried when the computer told me the Doctor wasn't on the ship earlier. Since I'm still in labor, either Chakotay's son is just being hard-headed or his spirit is too young to walk the spirit path yet."

"It would have been nice," Chakotay commented wryly.

Sassy moved his hand to where she wanted him to rub a little harder. "Well, if I'd known you were going to lose the ship's doctor at the exact wrong moment, I might have tried to communicate with Xamenche' in vision quests during the pregnancy so I could be prepared for this. Not that communication with an unborn baby has ever happened to my knowledge but still . . ."

"What's that?" Chakotay asked as Tom pressed a hypospray against Sassy's neck.

"Pain medication," Tom said. "It should slow down her labor a little and buy us some time. If we're really lucky her labor will stall out completely. I'll set this biobed up to monitor her and the baby. If this panel starts beeping, call me."

Sassy stretched out on the bed and tried to find a comfortable position. "Where are you going?"

"I'll be in the holodeck," he answered. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen for a while; your water hasn't even broken yet."

"This isn't a job for Captain Proton," she said dryly, arching an eyebrow at him. She was trying to stay calm, getting upset wouldn't help anything but this was still her first time in childbirth and nobody around her knew any more about it than she did.

Tom grinned. "At least with the Captain Proton adventures, there's always a happy ending. I just need to run some simulations."

Chakotay grabbed Tom's arm before he could leave. "How many babies have you delivered?"

"None --yet," he admitted. "Unless you count that lizard baby that Neelix and I hatched and cared for."

Sassy reached for Chakotay's hand. "It's all right, mi aalm. Women have been giving birth since long before the medical profession even existed. It's a natural event."

"A natural event that a lot of women and babies die during without medical help," he pointed out, his voice tight with worry. "The original baby girl that Samantha Wildman delivered died and the Doctor was here then."

Tom shook his head and headed toward the door. "No, no pressure there, none at all; thanks Commander. I'll be in Holodeck One taking a crash course in childbirth. If her water breaks, her contractions start coming less than 5 minutes apart or that panel starts beeping, call me."

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Chakotay sat in the Doctor's office, using the commlink in there to get an update from the Bridge. Sassy's labor had slowed down some; according to the biobed monitor she was still experiencing contractions, but they were coming farther apart and losing intensity.

"The miners at that iridium facility had a similar experience with Mr. Gar," Janeway told him. "He was there two days ago. He sold them some induction units and stole twenty kilos of ore before he left. We're returning the ten kilos we got from him and they're providing us with what information they can on him. He got the induction units from a planet called Velos, they've given us the coordinates but it'll take us about ten hours to get there."

"Even if we do manage to find him, it may be too late," Chakotay said. "At least with the regular contact with Earth, if anything happens to his program now, we could always have Starfleet send another EMH program in the next data stream. The problem with that is that it'll take a couple of months to put the request in and then get the new program in the data stream after that. Any way you look at this, there's a good chance that Tom and I are going to have to deliver the baby."

Janeway's expression of concern suddenly broke into a wide, amused grin. "Well, Sassy may have a thing or two to do with delivery as well. We'll keep working on finding Gar, maybe we'll get lucky."

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Tom wiped the perspiration from his face. Watching a holographic woman give birth was an indescribable experience. He'd known where babies came from since childhood--in theory, anyway. Actually seeing something that big emerge from that particular body opening left him speechless and certain that he would never be able to look at it the same way ever again. He felt completely inadequate in so many ways. He'd gone through the simulation a second time to take notes on everything the doctor in the simulation did and said. The third time through the exact same simulation, he'd taken over the role of the doctor and successfully delivered his first baby. Now it was time to shuffle the deck and see if he could repeat that feat without having a verbatim script in front of him. "Computer, reset Parturition simulation, randomize events but maintain the parameters of a human female giving birth to a human male."

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Sassy woke up from a light sleep to find Chakotay sitting beside her biobed. One of his hands was resting on her belly and his head was pillowed on his other arm, sound asleep in the most uncomfortable position she could imagine. Reluctant to move, she stroked his thick, dark hair and wished he'd fallen asleep facing her so she could admire his handsome features in repose. Things could be worse, there could be aliens attacking or some sort of spatial phenomenon wreaking havoc with the ship's systems. The facts were that the pregnancy had been uneventful, she was full-term and Xamenche' was in perfect position to be born. While it was ironic that the one time she really wanted to see the Doctor he was gone, this was not an insurmountable problem--at least that's what she kept telling herself.

"How are you feeling?" Chakotay woke to find her already awake.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I didn't mean to disturb you."

He stretched the kinks out of his back and checked the monitor. "I was just resting my eyes for a few minutes. It looks like your labor might be stopping."

"That's good," she replied, caressing her stomach. "Any news on the Doctor?"

"Kathryn located a merchant on a planet called Velos who was the source of the induction units that he sold to the miners. This Kipp was relying on the recommendation of someone he's done business with. He said the buyer who recommended Gar has been trading with him for years, so we're on our way to find the buyer."

Sassy shifted to her side, trying not to move around too much but not really comfortable in any position. "You know, if we're going to have to do this without a doctor we could just go completely native."

"Meaning what?" he asked gently, sitting on the edge of the bed and brushing her hair back.

"Go to the garden, you can set up a campsite and I could lean up against a tree and just shoot this little guy out like some of our ancestors did," the suggestion came with an impish grin and a wink.

He chuckled softly, leaning over her to brush a tender kiss across her lips. "I don't think so. We've got a perfectly good, sterile environment and a medic right here."

"I'll give you the sterile environment, but the medic knows virtually nothing about birthing babies so you can't count him," she shot back.

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"Tom," Harry got his attention and waved him over to the table where B'Elanna, Seven and he were eating. "How's Sassy?"

"Hi, honey," Tom paused to give his new bride a perfunctory kiss before sitting down beside her. "So far, so good--and by good I mean she's not in active labor. I've been through the childbirth simulations a dozen times or so, but I seriously do not want to have to deliver this baby. How close are we to finding Gar?"

Harry was the only one of the group who'd been on the Bridge for the exchange with the buyer who'd recommended Gar, so he filled them in. "It seems that the buyer that the merchant Kipp sent us to only recommended Gar because of his wife. She had a fling with Gar and left her husband for him. She thought Janeway wanted Gar for herself, so Captain Janeway pretended to be an item with Tuvok to get her to trust us. We've set course for Selek IV, which is where Gar was supposed to be going to a gambling tournament--as far as she knew, anyway."

Tom laughed out loud. "Janeway and Tuvok? I'll bet that was priceless--tell me she kissed him right there on the Bridge."

"Sorry, buddy," Harry shook his head no. "She just grabbed his hand."

Quickly finishing his meal, Tom stood. "I've got to get back to Sickbay."

"Give Chakotay our best," B'Elanna said. "Leave your tray, I'll get it."

"Thanks," Tom leaned over to give her a kiss goodbye. "See you later."

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The mood on the Bridge was tense, just as it had been since news of Sassy's labor. Everyone knew they were in a race against time with a baby's life on the line. There was no casual conversations, no inane banter; each crew member all the way up to Janeway, herself was single-mindedly focused on finding that trader who'd stolen the Doctor.

A beeping on Tuvok's console broke the silence. "I've picked up Gar's ship, directly ahead," he reported.

"Again?" Harry asked dubiously even as he dimmed the Bridge lights and took the ship to red alert in compliance with a gesture from Captain Janeway.

Tuvok double-checked his sensor readings. "I'm reading his bio signs."

Janeway, who had been pacing the Bridge in frustration, turned to look over at her security chief. "Any sign of the Doctor or his emitter?"

"Not yet," Tuvok said, still working.

Harry accessed his communication system in anticipation of the next order. "Should I hail Gar?"

Janeway shook her head no. "If we let him know we're here, he may try to slip away."

Tuvok offered a tactical suggestion. "We could drop out of warp at close range and lock onto him with a tractor beam before he knows what is happening.

Nodding, Janeway gestured back to him and took her seat. "I like it; helm, Tuvok . . ."

With barely a jolt, they dropped out of warp and immediately secured Gar's ship. Harry's console began flashing barely a second later. "He's hailing."

"I guess we put him in the mood to talk," Janeway noted. "On screen."

Gar's face filled the viewscreen with an expression of indignation. "I thought we were friends, Captain. Why am I being treated this way? I think I deserve better."

Janeway stood, pulling herself into her most imperious posture. "Where's our Doctor?"

"I have no idea," Gar replied. "I certainly hope nothing's happened to him."

Tuvok provided an update. "Scans are complete. Neither the mobile emitter nor the Doctor's program are aboard Gar's ship."

"Well, of course they're not," Gar asserted. He jabbed at a button on the computer console in front of him with an imperious smirk on his face.

As Voyager began rocking violently, Harry discerned the cause. "He's trying to destabilize the tractor beam with a feedback pulse. I'm compensating now."

"Don't bother, Harry," she said, sitting back down in her command chair. "Just beam him to the brig."

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"Well," Tom announced stepping out of the Doctor's office. "I have bad news and worse news."

"What's the bad news?" Chakotay asked.

Tom began pulling out equipment as he talked. "We found Gar-- that was that shaking a few minutes ago--but the Doctor isn't onboard his ship."

"So the worse news would be?" Sassy prompted.

Keeping his voice as light and calm as he could under the circumstances, Tom began to explain. "Well, the pain medication slowed your labor down and bought us a few days but I don't think we can wait any longer."

Chakotay checked the bed monitor. "Why not? Her readings are fine, her contractions aren't --"

"The baby," Tom interjected. "The pain medication slowed her labor down considerably, but it's tiring him out. His readings have been dropping; he's not in distress yet, I just don't want to wait until he is before doing anything about it. The final decision is yours, but if you want my somewhat-less-than-informed opinion, we should get to work on delivering him while he's still strong enough to handle the rest of the process."

"Yes," Sassy said without hesitation and before Chakotay could say anything. She knew he was worried about both the baby and her and she wanted to take this decision out of his hands. He wasn't the First Officer making a command decision here, he was a husband and father facing a difficult situation.

"It's not going to be easy," he warned them. "I really don't want to be forced to use the fetal transporter without the Doctor here, so that means medically fast-forwarding your labor. I'll give you something to counteract the pain meds still in your system. I'm also going to break your water and give you something to speed up labor. You're dilated a little more than five centimeters and you need to get to ten, so those last five are going to have to come fast. I've delivered more than a dozen babies in simulations on the holodeck over the past few days; we can do this."

While Chakotay helped Sassy get situated for the birthing, Tom prepared the hyposprays and got an incubator and other supplies ready for the baby. He made sure everything, including himself, was clean and sterile and then activated a sterile field around the bed. The list of things to remember and do was running through his head over and over as he tried to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. He gave her the first hypospray to dissipate the remaining pain medication and then he gave her the second to speed up her labor. When he sat down on the stool near her feet in preparation for breaking her water, the reality of the situation struck him. "Okay, this is definitely a lot easier with an anonymous hologram," Tom said, almost reluctant to lift the sheet covering her.

"What is it?" Chakotay asked, his apprehension evident in his face and his voice. He held Sassy's small hand cradled in his hands.

"I have to reach in . . . there to break her water," Tom explained. "It's just different with someone I know personally; not to mention a view of your wife that I never expected to have."

Sassy practically came off the table as the most intense, sharp pain she'd ever even imagined knifed through her abdomen. She squeezed Chakotay's hand with all her might, the severity of the pain catching her completely off-guard. It seemed to last an eternity but in reality it was probably only a minute or two until she collapsed back against the pillows that Chakotay had arranged to prop her up on the biobed. "Spirits that hurt," she gasped. "Thomas Eugene Paris, just get over it and do what you have to do because I don't want this taking any longer than necessary."

"Aalm?" Chakotay couldn't feel his fingers anymore and he was surprised at the strength of her grip.

"Contraction," Tom explained. "The first real contraction--the second hyprospray sent her straight into active labor. Sassy, while I'm breaking your water, I'm going to inject something into your cervix to soften it up, it'll help you dilate faster."

"I'll just bet you that the Doctor did this to me on purpose just to make this difficult," she grunted, still struggling to catch her breath after that last pain.

Chakotay tried to reason with her. "The Doctor did not leave the ship on purpose or even voluntarily. Gar is responsible for this."

Tom checked her cervix, massaging and stretching as much as he dared while trying to ignore where his hand was and in whom. Almost immediately he felt guilty for even thinking along those lines when he was handling a medical emergency. He gave her the injection and then carefully broke her water. "You're at six, we've got a ways to go, but Xamenche's heart rate is holding. Chakotay, let's get her up and walk her around; that might speed things up a bit."

Before they could even sit her up, the next contraction hit. That time Chakotay was sure he heard bones in his hand crack as Sassy squeezed. He stifled a moan at the pain he was feeling and encouraged her. "That's it, mi aalm, just take a deep breath and relax."

"You take a deep breath and relax while I geld you with a spoon," she hissed, pain radiating through her entire body.

Chakotay supported her with his non-injured arm and Tom held her on the other side as they walked around Sickbay. When he saw Tom notice his hand, already swelling and turning purple, he shook his head silently to warn the medic not to say anything. The time that Sassy had broken his nose, she'd felt horrible about it for days in spite of the circumstances. The only thing he wanted her to think about now was giving birth and she shouldn't have to worry about how hard she was squeezing his hand. Right at that moment he wanted to squeeze Gar's throat for stealing the Doctor. Each time a contraction hit, the three paused with Tom helping him keep Sassy from falling to the floor. Each time, Chakotay felt himself holding his breath until Tom scanned the baby with the tricorder and nodded that they could continue. Every minute that passed was excruciating pain for his wife and more strain on his son's already weakened condition.

"You know," Sassy gasped out after a particularly sharp contraction, "the Huichol Indians of Earth would tie a man's testicles to a rope for the wife to pull on whenever she had a contraction so that he could share the pain of childbirth not to mention the wife's satisfaction at torturing him for putting her through the pain of childbirth."

Tom shuddered. "Don't ever tell that to B'Elanna; she might get ideas."

"Personally, I'd rather not have sensitive parts of my anatomy mangled," Chakotay said. "I'd like Xamenche' to have siblings some day."

Sassy chuckled at that, briefly nuzzling his shoulder in a tacit gesture of affection before continuing her laborious walk around Sickbay.

A half an hour of walking and screaming later, Tom stopped her and got her up onto the bed to check her cervix. "Good, you're at eight, you're officially in transition; just a couple more to go and then you can start the real work."

Sassy didn't know whether to laugh or kick Tom in the head for his 'real work' comment. She was exhausted and her body felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside out. The next contraction began building, they were coming almost on top of one another at this point. She braced against the pain, yelling when the pain became too much to bear.

Tom checked the biobed readings and her dilation again. "I thought Indian women were supposed to be silent and stoic during the birth."

She barely resisted the much stronger urge to kick him in the head--they still needed him to deliver Xamenche'. "That was a tradition invented by men who didn't have to go through this process and didn't want to hear how difficult it really was because then they might have to acknowledge that woman are the stronger sex."

"No argument from me," Chakotay said. His entire arm was going numb from the pain in his hand and he was very aware that a broken hand didn't hurt half as much as what she was going through even if she was squeezing the injured hand with every new contraction.

A couple more contractions and Tom announced that she was fully dilated. "His heart rate has dropped off quite a bit, though. I'm going to need the hardest pushes you can manage here. Let's see if we can get him out in two."

She couldn't stop the whimpers and sobs that escaped her throat at the thought of even more pain and effort than she'd experienced so far. The only thing that kept her going was the knowledge that with every contraction, her baby's heart rate dropped alarmingly and rebounded less and less each time. He was counting on his mother to take care of him and right now that meant giving every last bit of strength she could muster to get him out. She had sheltered this precious life inside her for nine months, now his life depended on getting him out. This was what her body was designed to do, she reminded herself.

"I know you're tired, mi aalm, but you have to do this," Chakotay coaxed, wishing he could do more. He started to get in behind her to brace her but Tom stopped him.

"When the next contraction hits," Tom pointed as he spoke, "I want you to put pressure on her abdomen right there--help her push the baby out."

Working in concert, it actually took three pushes with a little twist before Xamenche' slipped into Tom's hands and started coughing. His hands shaking only slightly, Tom managed to clear the baby's mouth and throat of mucus and breathed a sigh of relief when the baby's response was to start screaming in earnest. "I did it," Tom said, "I mean we did it. He's fine, a little upset at the moment, but fine."

Sassy started crying harder herself then, the pain, exhaustion and emotion more than she could handle any longer. Before she could even ask to see him, she looked down at the foot of the bed to see Tom holding the baby up for her so she could see for herself that he was all right in case the healthy lungs weren't an indication. "Welcome, little one, we've been looking forward to meeting you."

"You are incredible," Chakotay whispered in Sassy's ear. "I love you for sharing your life with me and I love you for giving me a family. Thank you." He tenderly caressed her lips with his, licking them with his tongue to moisten them when he discovered how dry they were.

"Chakotay," Tom waved him down to the foot of the bed with him. "While I hold him, I need you to put clamps on the umbilical cord here and here, then cut the cord between the clamps."

With his broken hand all but useless, Chakotay carefully placed the clamps where Tom pointed and prepared to cut the cord when he noticed that the bottom of Sassy's vagina was ripped almost all the way up. "Can you fix that?" he asked softly, concerned but trying not to alarm his wife.

After all the strain of this situation, that question struck Tom as hysterically funny. Carrying the baby over to a nearby biobed to clean him up after Chakotay finished cutting the cord, he answered as soon as he caught his breath. "Yes," he assured Chakotay, "that I can fix. I can also fix your hand as soon as I've got this little guy and Sassy taken care of."

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Later, as Sassy slept, Chakotay sat on a biobed with his son carefully cradled in one arm while Tom used the osteogenerator on his crushed hand. "I can't believe she broke that many bones in my hand," he commented softly.

"Look at it this way, Chakotay," Tom offered. "It gave you a chance to experience the pain of childbirth second-hand, so to speak."

Chuckling at the flippant answer, he gazed down at the angelic, sleeping face of Xamenche'. His son-- the import of those words rung loudly in his ears. He had made this precious little life and now he had to protect and guide this innocent baby through the world, an unknown quadrant of the universe to boot. Feeling more unsure of himself than ever and a whole new appreciation for his father, he also felt more grounded than he ever had before. He had a beautiful wife and now a family, he was the luckiest man in any quadrant.

"Okay, that does it," Tom announced, shutting off the osteogenerator. "You and your entire family are officially fine and dandy. The Doc'll want to see Xamenche' there and probably Sassy for follow-up as soon as we get him back but you are 100 fixed."

"How soon can I take them home?" Chakotay asked. The word 'home' suddenly carried a whole new degree of significance for him.

Tom thought for a moment. "All they really need now is rest. Sassy's pretty done in; we should probably let her sleep for a few more hours at least. We'll see if she's up to walking back to your quarters after Xamenche's next feeding. There's no rush, she might be more comfortable in your quarters but we don't need the bed for anything right now. You can lay him down in the bassinet if you want."

"No, he's fine." The truth was that Chakotay didn't want to let go of him. He would have to eventually, at the very least he'd need to hand the baby over to Sassy for feedings; but for right now he was content to just sit and watch him sleeping peacefully.

FINIS


End file.
